Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Religion and Politics Still Wed

Those odd bedfellows, religion and
politics, just can't seem to get a divorce.

For example, a long-time supporter of atheistic
counterparts, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, has turned
to religion for inspiration in his battle against cancer. When he appears on television,
Chavez (right) waves around a crucifix and said that cancer has made him “more
Christian.” His timing is patently obvious. Elections are coming in his decidedly Catholic
country, and he may have found a way to retain his office.

"Given that he cannot hide the
illness, but he can hide its characteristics and danger, he's decided to take
as much advantage of it as he can, and one advantage is the symbolic and
religious issue," Luis Vicente Leon, a Venezuelan pollster and analyst,
told CNN. "He'll present himself as the chosen one, the man who has been
cured and healed by the Lord to continue governing the country."

"It's like a pact with God,
with Christ, my Lord," said Chavez, who was raised Catholic but has
clashed with Church leaders while in office. "I'm sure He will lay on a
hand so that this treatment, which we're rigorously following, will have
supreme success."

Fascinating. Turning to religion to help win an
election? Where have we seen that
before? That’s right – virtually every American
presidential election since Jimmy Carter told Playboy magazine that he lusted after other women “in his heart.”

A devout Southern Baptist, Carter
(left) happily touted his faith. Unfortunately,
religion turned out to be a poor mentor once the Georgian got into office. Ousted after one term, he was followed by
Ronald Reagan who happily talked about his Christian faith while quietly
heeding the guidance of astrologers.

The climax to all this religious
infusion came in 2008 when Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama faced off
with dueling ministers – each one listening to ranting religious leaders until
the media caught wind of what their religious guides were actually saying.

The furor over faith hasn’t
disappeared this time around. Likely
Republican nominee Mitt Romney has been touting his religious credentials and
gaining endorsements from such religion-driven politicos like former senator
and Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, who spent half a year
blasting Romney, and from Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who agreed that Romney’s Mormon
faith is a cult before blithely endorsing the former Massachusetts’ governor’s
presidential run.

The whole thing reminds me of a
story in the Talmud, the Jewish collection of interpretations of the Torah (the
first five books of the Bible.) There’s
only one light anecdote in the Talmud’s many volumes, but it relates.

An ancient sage recalled meeting a
man in a hurry. The rabbi asks what the
rush is. The man says that he was bitten
by a snake and was racing to find Jesus to save him.

The rabbi was asked what
happened. He shrugged. “I don’t know. The man died.”

The joke, of course, was that Jesus
couldn’t really cure anyone, even Chavez.
It’s really mind over matter, which is what has been shown at the great
shrines like Lourdes. Actually, of the
estimated 200 million people who have journeyed there since the shrine was
founded in 1858, the Church recognizes that only 67 people have been cured;
only four of those have come after 1978.

As author Robert Scott noted in his
book Miracle Cures: Saints, Pilgrimage
and the Healing Power of Belief, commenting on medieval trips to sainted
shrines: “Many
common infectious illnesses at that time may have naturally run their course
whether or not the sufferer had gone to appeal to a saint. However, a
pilgrimage offered changes in diet, climate and living conditions, and, in
bonding with fellow travelers, a temporary relief from the shame associated with
disease.”

He
added:

If the sufferers
went on pilgrimage, prayed to a saint, and in the end felt better for it, it
does not matter whether the recovery was due to spontaneous remission or the
natural course of illness. From the pilgrims’ point of view, they took action,
and it made them feel better; therefore they concluded that what they did had
helped.

Pilgrims were
sincere when the shrine first opened 154 years ago and still are now. Chavez is more like Dutch Schultz (right), the noted
Jewish gangster of the 1920s and 1930s who converted to Christianity just prior
to his trial on income tax evasion to successfully sway an upstate New York jury. Or Henry IV, who converted from Protestant
Calvinism to Catholicism in 1593 to gain a throne, saying “France is well worth
a mass.”

He also resembles Nicaraguan
President Daniel Ortega whose campaign rallies included religious processions,
chants and the campaign slogan "Christian, Socialist and In
Solidarity." Catholic Church leaders obviously recognized cynicism at play,
calling the effort “part of a ploy to deceive voters.”

Chavez is likely to win election in
a country close to 100 percent Catholic.
American political leaders following his lead may not have the same
success in this country where Christianity is represents about 78 percent of
the population and has been steadily declining.

Not that such a reality will stop
them. “God help America if Obama wins
re-election,” said Gov. Rick Perry.

Of course, God may be too busy with
Chavez to step in.

Long-time
religious historian Bill Lazarus regularly writes about religion and religious
history. He also speaks at various
religious organizations throughout Florida.
You can reach him at www.williamplazarus.com.
He is the author of the famed Unauthorized Biography of Nostradamus; The
Last Testament of Simon Peter; The
Gospel Truth: Where Did the Gospel Writers Get Their Information; Noel: The Lore and Tradition of Christmas
Carols;and Dummies Guide to Comparative Religion. His books are available on
Amazon.com, Kindle, bookstores and via various publishers. He can also be followed on Twitter.

About Me

During his career, Bill has been a newspaper reporter, magazine writer/editor, advertising copywriter and writer/editor of NASCAR programs, among other jobs. He has won three international awards for stories and programs while working for International Speedway Corp. and was named 2000 Florida Feature Writer of the Year.
He has published four books to date and his writing has appeared in hundreds of local, regional, state and national publications.